Our conversation with Dan Goleman; He wrote the book on emotional intelligence. His 1995 bestseller changed how the world thinks about the mind. He and Richie Davidson go back to 1972, when they were the few at Harvard who cared about meditation.
Fifty years later, there are thousands of papers a year on contemplative science. In this conversation, Dan, Richie, and Cort trace that entire arc — from Harvard renegades to the 2004 brain scan that changed neuroscience, to the Dalai Lama’s assignment that Richie says defines the rest of his life.
They also land on a deceptively simple question: how do you handle yourself when life gets hard? Goleman’s answer is worth the listen (practice).
For detailed conversation notes, key ideas, key quotes, books, references & resources, please visit here (paid):
Detailed Show Notes: Dan Goleman on Practicing Before Life Gets Hard
Guests: Daniel Goleman, Dr. Richard Davidson, Dr. Cortland Dahl
Chapter Summary:
00:05:51 — Dan Goleman returns from India and meets Richie Davidson at Harvard
00:06:38 — Studying meditation in academia when the field dismissed it
00:07:11 — Their careers diverge: journalism at the New York Times and neuroscience research
00:08:08 — The Mind & Life Institute and first meetings with the Dalai Lama
00:09:20 — Paul Ekman’s surprising transformation after meeting the Dalai Lama
00:12:03 — Richie’s quiet strategy: exposing scientists to contemplative practice
00:13:09 — The birth of a new generation of contemplative scientists
00:14:37 — Cort Dahl discovers meditation research in graduate school
00:16:10 — Jon Kabat-Zinn teaching yoga in a Harvard Square basement
00:17:35 — “The after is the before for the next during” — meditation changes baseline states
00:18:43 — The breakthrough 2004 meditation brain study
00:20:26 — The Dalai Lama’s lifelong assignment to study and share these practices
00:21:47 — Shifting psychology from pathology to human flourishing
00:26:09 — Emotional intelligence as a path to well-being
00:31:16 — Why practice—not theory—is what actually changes people
00:32:37 — Cort Dahl’s experience with social crisis and emotional complexity
00:35:31 — The Dalai Lama’s advice on skillfully working with anger
00:38:28 — Two contemplative approaches to difficult emotions
00:45:24 — “Feel what you are feeling” — a simple practice that changes awareness
00:46:11 — Dan Goleman on Vipassana meditation
00:47:10 — Scaling well-being beyond formal meditation practice
00:50:04 — Mingyur Rinpoche after retreat: “the same, only more so”
